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Why does Poland love the Raptor?


WWHSD

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It seems like the Malifaux Raptor is almost an auto-include with Sandeep in Poland. I don’t hear about it getting much use anywhere else.

What is it that Polish players love about the bird that the rest of the world seems to not think is so hot?

I’m assuming it has to do with the :mask trigger on the Raptor’s Talons attack. Stacking your own deck seems cool and all but there’s only 4 (maybe 5) cards in the deck that I’d cheat in to get the trigger, it deals damage to one of your own models, and the Raptor isn’t going to want to use the cards right away so it doesn’t seem like it will be of much use after turn one.

Am I missing something here?

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I'm no arcanist illuminati but this is a fun puzzle. For sure it is a cheap activation that move really quick and is good at annoying stuff.

Do they also take Miranda? Skinwalker doesn't seem that enticing but I guess you could deliver her through the bird or a model made beast by the bird? Or hunting call? it seems like a bit of a waste on Raptor but maybe if you trigger Rake the eyes you can see opponent deck then accomplice in a model that can do something bad (or good depending on perspective) with a better chance to success? 

Or maybe it's just a projectile for Banasuva to toss when the game is not going your way :P

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To add to @Tendrepie list,

Anti-Sniper bait? It should be able to tie up at least one Sniper, if not a pair if grouped together, for at least the 2nd round.

Heavy Marcus player pool? Turning Howard or Joss into a Beast changes things significantly with certain things. Darzee's + Alpha on Howard = horrible for an opponent if he's got nothing in the area to punish Howard with.

Some card draw makes the Rake the Eyes a lot more impressive. Like Kaeris's Truth in Flames. Cheating in a low/mid Mask to be able to filter the next three cards you'll draw?

Deflection point for Rasputina? She and her stuff tends to be slow, but putting the Raptor in base contact with two enemy models and Ice Mirroring in a Freeze Over, or putting December's Touch on it, and just blasting it with two maxed December's Curse, could work. Heck, just using something so mobile for a Touch to use as an Ice Mirror seems reasonable.

And that's not to discount all the VP denial shenanigans that it's capable of doing. Sure, being an Insig Peon means it can't score most things. But for Supply Wagons, it being a fast 40mm base can make it disruptive, or at least burn activations removing it. It seems like it can hold up or at least disrupt a lot of scheme runners, even if it can't do them itself. And if you're playing an elite crew, it adds the extra activation, and can make Punish the Weak almost impossible to score against some crews.

Note, I've never used my own Raptors in 2nd Ed, but I'm starting to think that's a mistake. :D

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I'm no Polish elite but I like a Raptor every once in a while😄

Myranda + Skinwalker and Raptor in Symbols of Authority is a good way to score some strat points. End of t2 or later you can drop the bird to block your own strategy markers, or wherever else that's going to frustrate your opponent. I like one in every pool where they can just stand around and be annoying, admittedly rarer in gg18. When they're not straight up denying VP I think of them as potential Slow/Paralyze I can place next to most things, that with a bit of luck I can re-use.

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8 hours ago, WWHSD said:

What is it that Polish players love about the bird that the rest of the world seems to not think is so hot?

Simply - he is cheap activation and has a trigger to place cards in desired order, which allows summoning Gamin or making places/leaps with models in his crew without cheating with card from your hand.

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7 hours ago, Cedar said:

Simply - he is cheap activation and has a trigger to place cards in desired order, which allows summoning Gamin or making places/leaps with models in his crew without cheating with card from your hand.

The thing that I don't get about the trigger is that you are probably cheating a card to hit it and the trigger requires a :mask. Is it worth cheating in a :mask that could be used for a leap or a place in order to stack cards for Sandeep's activation? Is the trigger useful outside of the first turn when you can't control what flips you'll need to make after the Raptor hits its trigger? 

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I'm not a Polish and I'm not an Arcanist either, but I absolutely hate Raptors as an opponent :)

they just a cheap activation that prevent enemy models do what they like. No charges or interact action will be made when it's crucial because of engagement with a 6Df 4Wd bird.

 

I'm so excited to try them in my McMourning crew )))

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12 minutes ago, Sagrit said:

I'm not a Polish and I'm not an Arcanist either, but I absolutely hate Raptors as an opponent :)

they just a cheap activation that prevent enemy models do what they like. No charges or interact action will be made when it's crucial because of engagement with a 6Df 4Wd bird.

 

I'm so excited to try them in my McMourning crew )))

I play them with Marcus and used them a lot before GG2018. I wasn’t really questioning the general usefulness of Raptors but more the reasons that they are almost as much a staple of Polish Sandeep crews as Oxfordian Mages are.

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So, I took a Raptor last night in my Marcus crew, and did the obvious "turn Howard into a Beast, so I can Alpha Howard", and despite me being stupid*, the bird really came into it's own on T3, when on T2 I took to the sky, and came down in the middle of the support section of his crew, tying up Wong, Trixie, Old Cranky and a Slop Hauler.

* My first attack hit, I forgot the trigger, and Severe'd Howard, and couldn't cheat cause it was a negative Damage Flip, I smartened up on the second hit, but Howard down an additional three Wds definitely affected how early he died. Though he killed McTavish, a Taxidermist, took Stilts off Francois and did 3 to Wong, so I can't complain he didn't do his job.

It was awesome for the disruption, if nothing else. If I hadn't forgotten I had Defensive Stance on the Raptor, I maybe could have tied up Wong for Turn 4 too.

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On 6/6/2018 at 2:25 AM, Sagrit said:

I'm not a Polish and I'm not an Arcanist either, but I absolutely hate Raptors as an opponent :)

they just a cheap activation that prevent enemy models do what they like. No charges or interact action will be made when it's crucial because of engagement with a 6Df 4Wd bird.

 

I'm so excited to try them in my McMourning crew )))


I agree with everything here, including the taking them McMourning bit (really have to build mine)!  As an opponent, few things piss me off more than Raptors for all the reasons mentioned above. It's even worse for :ToS-Range: attack models.

1 hour ago, Morgan Vening said:

So, I took a Raptor last night in my Marcus crew, and did the obvious "turn Howard into a Beast, so I can Alpha Howard", and despite me being stupid*, the bird really came into it's own on T3, when on T2 I took to the sky, and came down in the middle of the support section of his crew, tying up Wong, Trixie, Old Cranky and a Slop Hauler.

* My first attack hit, I forgot the trigger, and Severe'd Howard, and couldn't cheat cause it was a negative Damage Flip, I smartened up on the second hit, but Howard down an additional three Wds definitely affected how early he died. Though he killed McTavish, a Taxidermist, took Stilts off Francois and did 3 to Wong, so I can't complain he didn't do his job.

It was awesome for the disruption, if nothing else. If I hadn't forgotten I had Defensive Stance on the Raptor, I maybe could have tied up Wong for Turn 4 too.

This was truly hilarious to watch. The look on your face when I told you you couldn't cheat down the severe was priceless!

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